Here’s is the emotive video premiere of ‘When Angels Fall’ from Ellis Paul. The song’s theme is immediately clear and direct when Paul delivers the opening lines: “I’ve got a gun // I’ve got a message // I let the bullets speak for me // And when I’m done // I’ll leave you the wreckage // You’ll put my face up on TV // Are you gonna fight? // Fight for your guns?” The song tackles the challenging issue of gun control in America, using sensitive language and thoughtful images. The engaging melody and Ellis’s smooth, assured vocal capture the listener’s attention quickly in this absorbing song, in which the multi-talented Paul also supplies guitar and piano.
Paul shares: “‘When Angels Fall’ is a song about gun violence. After the Uvalde school shooting, I released the demo and it went to the #1 spot on the American folk DJ Chart. It’s written from the shooter’s perspective (except the choruses). I wish I didn’t have to write one like this. But it needed to be released again with full production. I hope everyone gets a chance to hear this song.”
The single is taken from Paul’s 23rd recording, the album ’55’, a reflective album created at home during the isolation of the pandemic. Paul suffers from Dupuytren’s contracture, a disease that has been slowly tightening the fingers of both his hands into tightly curled fists. It was imperative that he recorded this album before losing his ability to play. Following surgery on his left hand in December 2022, Paul is able to once again form chords and he is planning surgery on his right hand in 2024. There’s certainly a sense of joy and release in his music as he comes to term with, and moves on from, the restrictions of age and adversity. These are songs of love, escape and coming to terms with outliving the things you have grown up with. The album is due for release on 9th June 2023. Check it out.
